Annotated Links waiting to be blogged about

We found the content listed on this page intriguing and blog-inspiring but they come faster than FoO curators can write about them. If, informed by our About, you feel called to blog about any of them, contact us.

Some really great info for occupy are the docs describing how the Western Asia – Northern Africa (WANA) Forum has begun to develop a citizen-based social charter process via deliberative consultations across the region. The following links might be considered constitutive docs for creating regional sovereignty:

It would be great if someone with a passion for language/anthropology/sociology would write something on this.

The author reflects on how terms such as Occupy reframe the way we think bout democracy and politics, how the movement is reframing language. Furthermore he goes onto propose: “What if we transformed the meaning of occupy yet again? Specifically, what if we thought of Occupy Language as more than the language of the Occupy movement, and began to think about it as a movement in and of itself? What kinds of issues would Occupy Language address? What would taking language back from its self-appointed “masters” look like? We might start by looking at these questions from the perspective of race and discrimination, and answer with how to foster fairness and equality in that realm. commonly used language and how the meaning of some words such as ‘Occupy.’ ” Could this be a crucial practice for overcoming the reproduction of the old social ills of gender, class, and racial divides that consensus models seek to overcome?

A very informative account of the 10 steps needed to facilitate an asset mapping session. Written from the perspective of Asset Based Community development which builds on appreciative inquiry, the session is designed to bring attention to the potential that already exists within the individuals and the group. In the words of the author:

Asset mapping offers a simple, fast and inexpensive way to resource a movement. Because it focuses on what already exists, it’s positive in nature and is great at unearthing latent potential. Mapping assets provides a tangible seedbed of opportunity when campaigning needs to be put on hold.

Also mentioned are some very interesting alternatives to our existing system that may start gaining greater traction in the coming year as Occupy and similar movements continue to grow.

That page brings together essays, critical commentary, and eventually research of social scientists on the Occupy Movement. As analyses and “spin” of Occupations grow, we confront the sort of public issue to which a social science response is urgently needed. The Berkeley Journal of Sociology is addressing the underlying social, political, and economic issues surrounding Occupy and its broader implications.

“I was recently reminded about something I’d long forgotten: The 1962 Port Huron Statement, which was really more a manifesto than a statement. Reading the statement nearly half a century after it was penned, I have to agree with Karen that those involved in the nascent Occupy Wall Street movement would do well to sit down, yellow markers in hand, and read this remarkably timely document from beginning to end.”

Following those introductory words, Stephen Pizzo, quotes long excerpts from the 1962 statement of the Students for Democratic Society, cherrypicked by his sense of what parts may provide re-usable insights for today’s unrest.

The author points out an essential aspect of the Movement’s democratic potential, its potential to alter our social practices, namely the communal uses of space:

“Taking key symbolic public space – this is the politics of geography – to use it for conviviality, living, learning and participation… That’s no easy task in a city designed to facilitate only three activities – working, transport and shopping – with as little human interaction as possible… The protesters’ aim is to open up space, physically and socially, for people to connect and thereby open up space in people’s imaginations.”

“Powerful movements build not on a laundry list of policy demands, but on principles and values…. Powerful movements create their own spaces where they can shift the debate, and the culture, to one that better serves. That’s why showing up in person at the occupy sites is so critical to this movement’s success. In hundreds of communities around North America, people are showing up to make a statement and to listen to each other. They are also teaching one another to facilitate meetings, to take nonviolent direct action, to make their own media. They are taking care of each other, gathering food supplies, blankets, and clothes that can allow people to remain outdoors even as the weather gets wetter and colder.”

“Fundamentally, cities exist to serve and facilitate the fulfillment of human needs — physiological, social, and intellectual — and when those needs are unmet, they are often the first places to react. They are the places where human change is accelerated. And that’s why they are the center of the Occupy Wall Street movement.”

Cities are also places where “money” is being “grown”. Money does NOT grow on trees after all. And The City of London has a most special list of privileges, incl. the first “Royal Charter” that makes it immune from prosecution!

I have long envisioned an economy with 50% conventional currencies and 50% “mutual credit money”, preferably now run via mobile phones.

That’s what one level of victory would look like: the use and acceptance of “money” [or currency] as a democratic tool rather than “financial products” as arsenals of control and enslavement!

Money creation is one of the two fundamental monopolies.
Unless the *benefits* (it does not matter if the *operation* remains in private hands**) of the monopoly become socialized solution of other issues will remain inadequate.

** De La Rue securities printers have a monopoly of printing Sterling notes, as well as currencies of many other nations (if I understand correctly), but they are not allowed to own the notes they print.
Banks are allowed by our governments to claim ownership of the social asset called credit-money they “print” (with much less expense than that incurred in running a highly sophisticated printing company).
This is verging on treason against the people.

Thanks, Janos. I’ve also come to call it ‘treason’, at least ‘dishonest money’. For the betrayal is that Government always claims not to have enough money, but to charge TAXES as income – or else having to BORROW.

In reality, they could print money that is THEIRS to spend FOR the public. But no. They believe the economics professor who preach ‘anglo-saxon capitalism’ not a social version thereof and let central banks call it ‘quantitative easing’.

For the big myth was that 1929 ‘printing money’ was the sin of the German government. When US / UK banks do it, it’s “ok”!…

Minority Rules: Scientists Discover Tipping Point for the Spread of Ideas

“Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society. The scientists, who are members of the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center (SCNARC) at Rensselaer, used computational and analytical methods to discover the tipping point where a minority belief becomes the majority opinion. The finding has implications for the study and influence of societal interactions ranging from the spread of innovations to the movement of political ideals.”

phew, i was hoping the hundredth monkey effect was real! This particular monkey gets lonely sometimes, but i sense we are approaching the 10% mark and it will be banana’s for all!!! Locally managed, sustainably grown & harvested, and locally cross-verified as fair trade sustainable bananas… of course:-)